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# From Legacy to Longevity – How a 17-Year-Old System stayed Modern


- **Event:** World Congress 2026 North America

## Description

Our core claims system in the health insurance domain has been running reliably for 17 years. Originally built from scratch as a monolithic java application, it still forms the backbone of our business operations today. Rather than replacing it through a rewrite, we chose a different approach: continuous modernization. Step by step, we migrated the system to the cloud, improved scalability, introduced modular structures, and continuously updated it to the latest Java and Spring versions – all while keeping the system fully operational.

Throughout this journey, we often had to prove that our system could stand up against commercial solutions. Each modernization step was not only a technical improvement but also a statement that a well-maintained, custom-built system can remain competitive, flexible, and cost-efficient if continuously evolved.

It required alignment and understanding across all stakeholders – from developers and architects to our users and management. Everyone had to embrace the idea that modernization is an ongoing evolution rather than a single project.

In this talk, I will share authentic insights into the realities of modernizing a large, business-critical system while it continues to serve millions of claims inquiries annually.  I will also reflect on key challenges we faced and the lessons we learned on the way to achieve a future-proof claims system.

## Speaker

### [Alexander Arians](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/@alexander-arians)

Empowering Engineers to drive innovation


## Related talks at this congress

- [It passed auth, then production caught fire](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-north-america/sessions/1703-it-passed-auth-then) — Alex Olivier
- [How to generate business value through performance optimizations](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-north-america/sessions/1686-how-to-generate) — Nikolai Sidiropulo
- [Reinventing Testing Practices in the AI Era](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-north-america/sessions/1724-reinventing-testing) — Eric Deandrea
- [Closing the Visibility Gap: Lessons from Safety Critical Agentic Systems](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-north-america/sessions/1408-closing-the) — Vivek Pandit

## Watch remotely

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- All full videos, bookmarks, and playlists
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## Links

- [Get tickets](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/world-congress-north-america/tickets)